That is one way to look at them. The other is more akin to a parasite, wait for small companies to invest and innovate and once a product is proven in the marketplace, copy it. I don't really want to judge them, cheap music gear is certainly good for consumers but talking to small manufacturers over many years I've yet to meet anyone who likes them. If anything smaller players are now extremely careful to open source stuff exactly because of them.

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tgv 21 hours ago | parent [-]

Many of those instruments are based on 40 to 50 year old designs. They've released products that were simply not in the market anymore, or second-hand at exorbitant prices. That's not parasitic. Their production processes might not stand up to scrutiny, though.

> If anything smaller players are now extremely careful to open source stuff exactly because of them.

That's the problem with all open source. If you open source something good, someone else is going to run with it.

	▲	7oi 21 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Well, they’re also known for cloning newer devices, such as (which I didn’t realize until recently) the Korg Volca line, which were already rather cheap devices to begin with. I admit that I don’t know the exact details on those devices from Behringer apart from small snippets I’ve seen popping up in videos and perhaps they’re adding something new to it, but they sure seem very similar to the Volca designs.